LawBreakers No Longer Free-to-Play, Will Be Steam Exclusive at Launch

LawBreakers, the game designed and developed by Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski's new studio, Boss Key Productions, will no longer be free-to-play.

Instead, the arena-based multiplayer shooter will be released as a "digital premium title". At launch, it will be available exclusively on Valve's Steam platform.

Speaking during a GDC presentation, Bleszinski did not provide a specific price point for the game, saying only that it "will not have the $60 price point of a traditional product," despite his description of it as a "premium" title.

"As the game continued to take shape, we realized free-to-play wasn't the right fit for what we're building," he said. "LawBreakers is a competitive game at heart and that means balance is a big priority to me, my team, and our community.

He added: "Using a digital premium model helps ensure an even playing field by giving fans access to every available role without any barriers."

When the game was first announced, Bleszinski discussed the decision to adopt a free-to-play business model for LawBreakers, citing the low barrier to entry it allowed as a key factor.

"Anyone can just jump in and play your darned game. I'm DETERMINED to not do Pay-to-Win. Since this game is a shooter I want that one player who likes the game and doesn't feel like spending any money to be able to take down the trust fund kid that's spent a ton of money to have all the stuff."

In another comment made at the time Bleszinski said he "adore[s]" Steam, but the decision regarding what platforms to release LawBreakers on lies with the game's publisher, Nexon.

Also in the GDC presentation, Bleszinski showed off the game's new, more mature visual style, as well as a new logo and character models.

"Being constantly compared to the current slew of colorful shooters on the market made us realize we needed to stand out from the crowd," he said, explaining the shift in design.

"We decided to take a step back and explore how we could dial up the maturity in LawBreakers, going back to our original vision. The new look and feel embraces the innovative and vertical nature of our game elevated by violence, intensity and competition.”

Lawbreakers is currently set for a PC-only release. Bleszinski has said that it could come to consoles if they found a good partner to handle the port.

Lawbreakers PC Specs:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia 460 (1 GB)
• Storage: 12 GB available space

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
• Processor: Intel Core i7 -4790
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970
• Storage: 12 GB available space

Additional Notes: Recommended specs optimized for 90FPS. With a high end card like a Nvidia GTX 980 Ti the game should run at 144hz. Game supports up to DX12.